Saw this story linked off Hacker News: Is US Chief Information Officer (CIO) Vivek Kundra a Phony? Disturbing if true. I remember wondering about the $18 million figure for recovery.gov when I saw it announced but just put it down to ordinary government waste and overspending. The story about Kundra being busted for shoplifting when he was in his early 20s always struck me as a bit of a dubious statement of character. I'll be interested to see if the mainstream media picks this up and where the story goes. Even if it turns out he's not lying about his degree he doesn't really seem to be qualified for the job.

Dvorak Raises Doubts About U.S. CIO Kundra. White House Calls the Report “Highly Inaccurate” & “a Lie.” Kundra Speaks up

Quote:
...
Update: Chip Cassano, a University of Maryland University College spokesman, confirmed that Kundra graduated from the school with a Masters of Science in Information Systems Management. There are several other issues — you are better off reading the entire article.
...
According to the spokesperson, the doubts might have arisen from the fact that Kundra went to University of Maryland’s University College instead of College Park. Those are two different colleges within the University of Maryland system. “If you are going to make such charges, make sure you call us and take the time to educate yourself,” said the spokesperson. “It is a lie.”
...

As for the $18 million for the web site, that does sound excessive as far as setting up a server and the like goes. I suspect that amount is not for one year but for several and that it includes a substantial travel allotment and funds for setting up offices across the country. At any rate, the point of the recovery package was for the government to spend money, so what's the big deal if the web site operators were given a lot of money to spend? So long as they don't spend it on themselves everything should be ok.

Shit, guys, we haven't even seen his birth certificate. I think it's just this side of possible that he's not even a natural born citizen!

It did seem a little unlikely that a false claim about his qualifications would have made it through the screening process. He still sounds somewhat underqualified but maybe he has some other achievements that Dvorak didn't dig up.

Am I the only one who thinks of Morrowind when I see his name?

Quote: Original post by Nypyren
Am I the only one who thinks of Morrowind when I see his name?

Not any more, damn you!

Looks like the politics of personal destruction has overshadowed the actual possibility of corruption: Obama Administration Redacts Contract Details for Recovery.gov